unaccustomed

English

Etymology 1

un- +‎ accustomed

Adjective

unaccustomed (comparative more unaccustomed, superlative most unaccustomed)

1. Not used to an event or thing, not accustomed.

   He is unaccustomed to the cold.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “In which the Man of the Hill begins to relate his History”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A Millar, , →OCLC, book VIII, page 244:

     […] I again conveyed his Key into his Pocket, and counterfeiting Sleep, tho’ I never once cloſed my Eyes, lay in Bed till after he aroſe and went to Prayers, an Exerciſe to which I had long been unaccuſtomed.

   • 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XV, in The Abbot. , volume I, Edinburgh: [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, ; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, , →OCLC, pages 345–346:

     “Do Veniam,” said his Superior; and the old man seized, with a trembling hand, a beverage to which he had been long unaccustomed, drained the cup with protracted delight, as if dwelling on the flavour and perfume, and set it down with a melancholy smile and shake of the head, as if bidding adieu in future to such delicious potations.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword: The Turk Street Mile”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 11:

     He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood.

2. To which one is not accustomed, unfamiliar
   • 1909, James Harvey Robinson, Charles Austin Beard, Readings in Modern European History: Europe since the Congress of Vienna, page 118:

     Guerrilla warfare opens a field of activity for every local capacity, forces the enemy into an unaccustomed method of battle, avoids the evil consequences of a great defeat, secures the national war from the risk of treason, and has the advantage of not confining it within any defined and determinate basis of operations.

   • 1984 April 14, Jonathan Handel, “Fruits on Air”, in Gay Community News, page 4:

     I have taken the unaccustomed step of forwarding this letter to the FCC and a number of gay media, essentially because of Mr. Doyle's arrogant attitude concerning this matter.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Verb

unaccustomed

1. simple past and past participle of unaccustom